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Defra and the Devolved Administrations carries out air quality modelling both Defra's Science Advisory
Air Quality Modelling Council Modelling Review
to provide information on concentrations of pollutants in places where we do
Research Monitoring report
not monitor and to predict concentrations under different situations, for
Ecosystem Research Local air quality
example in the future or as a result of possible new policies. Modelling is management (LAQM)
also an important research tool. Defra and the Devolved Administrations uses
a number of models to allow it to look at a range of pollutants and at
different spatial scales, from the local to the hemispheric. Reports and
outputs from these models can be found in the Library section of this
website.

The Pollution Climate Mapping (PCM) model is a collection of models

designed to fulfil part of the UK's EU Directive (2008/50/EC) requirements to
report on the concentrations of particular pollutants in the atmosphere. These
models are run by AEA on behalf of Defra. There is one model per pollutant
(NOx, NO2, PM10, PM2.5, SO2 , CO, benzene, ozone, As, Cd, Ni, Pb and B[a]p)
each with two parts: a base year model and a projections model. PCM
calculates the annual mean concentrations for most of the pollutants. The
PCM provides outputs on a 1x1 km grid of background conditions plus
around 9,000 representative road side values. The PCM also provides model
runs to support the writing of Time Extension Notification (TEN) applications
for PM10 and NOx. It is also used for scenario assessment and population
exposure calculations to assist policy developments.

The Pollution Climate Mapping Model produces background maps for the UK.
These will shortly be available for download from these pages for the whole
of the UK from the modelling data page. In addition you can download
modelled background maps by Local Authority from the LAQM pages.

The Community Multi-scale Air Quality Modelling System (CMAQ) is used by

AEA on behalf of Defra to calculate daily air quality forecasts. The daily
forecast results are presented on the UK AIR forecasting pages. CMAQ is an
open source model developed by the USEPA, which can be downloaded from
the CMAQ website. Model outputs include hourly values at each grid point for
gas concentrations plus wet and dry deposition and aerosol concentrations
plus wet and dry deposition. Selected gas or aerosol species can also be
provided as hourly average values of PM2.5 fractions, number, concentration,
and surface area concentration of Aitkin in the accumulation and coarse
modes. These are produced to a 48x48 km (or 50x50 km) resolution over
Europe, with nested 12x12 km (10x10 km) squares for the UK.

The Fine Resolution Atmospheric Multi-pollutant Exchange (FRAME) is a

Lagrangian statistical trajectory model run by CEH on behalf of Defra to
calculate annual averages of SOx, NOx and NHx wet and dry deposition at a 5
kmx5 km resolution. FRAME is also used for rapid calculations to respond to
policy concerns and assist negotiations through input to the UK Integrated
Assessment Model. More information regarding FRAME can be found on the
FRAME webpages. Deposition maps produced by FRAME can be downloaded
from the FRAME modelling maps pages.

Defra also funds research and development of the European Monitoring and
Evaluation Program Unified Model for the UK (EMEP4UK) to provide
assessments of critical load exceedences. The EMEP4UK is run by CEH and
uses an outer grid of 50x50 km2 and a nested UK grid of 5x5 km2.
Developing an Eulerian multi-scale, multi pollutant model will allow Defra to
determine the effect of different policy scenarios on a number of pollutants
with one model run. The EMEP4UK model is an open source model which can
be downloaded from the EMEP website and uses the Weather Research and
Forecasting (WRF) Model to generate the meteorology for the model, this can
be downloaded from the WRF Model website

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Air Quality Modelling - Defra, UK http://uk-air.defra.gov.uk/research/air-quality-modelling

Defra uses the Ozone Source Receptor Model (OSRM) to advise on the effects © Crown copyright Access to
of planned or proposed policy on ozone concentrations to changes in information Terms & conditions
precursor emissions (particularly involving changes in NOx and VOC Privacy Accessibility Air
HelpPollution
Recorded Helpline 0800
emissions). OSRM is run by AEA and is a source-receptor Lagrangian
trajectory model with single vertical layer covering the UK. The model
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produces hourly concentrations of O3 , NO, and NO2 in the mid-boundary 66
layer at named receptors or on a 10x10 km UK grid. Post-processing code 77
converts this to surface concentrations and also calculates metrics such as
AOT40, exceedences, and running averages of concentrations.

The UK integrated assessment model (UKIAM), has been developed by

Imperial College London to investigate cost effective strategies for reducing
UK emissions which maximise improvements in environmental protection in
the UK while complying with future UK emission ceilings imposed to reduce
transboundary air pollution in Europe. UKIAM brings together information on
projected UK emissions of SO2, NOX, NH3 , CO2 , N20, CH4 , PM10 and PM2.5 to
calculate the simultaneous effect of abatement measures on a combination of
pollutants, and comparison of future scenarios. This includes calculating the
effects with respect to changes in greenhouse gas emissions as well as
human exposure to air pollution, urban air quality, and the natural
ecosystems.

Defra also uses a number of other models to either to provide input data or
validation data for the models listed above. These include but are not limited
to: ELMO (Edinburgh-Lancaster Model for Ozone), NAME (Numerical
Atmospheric-dispersion Modelling Environment), PTM (Photochemical
Trajectory Model ) and TRACK (TRajectory model with Atmospheric Chemical
Kinetics).

Page last modified: 14 February 2011

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